THE Phil Silvers Show, one of the best loved and most successful television comedy series in television history, made its debut in the USA in September 1955.

We in Britain though had to wait two years before it hit our television screens and such is its popularity that all 143 episodes have been repeated here many times over by the BBC.

The original title for the show was You'll Never Get Rich which was quickly changed to The Phil Silvers Show and soon became known to everyone as just Sergeant Bilko.

Master Sergeant Ernie Bilko (Phil Silvers), who was in charge of a motley bunch of soldiers in the Fort Baxter motor pool, is arguably television's most loveable rogue. Always on the lookout to make a few extra bucks, Bilko's dodgy schemes invariably backfired on him.

Born in Brooklyn in 1911, Phil Silvers had been in show business for 30 years as a comedian in vaudeville and stage shows before playing supporting roles in Hollywood movies such as Coney Island, Footlight Serenade and Cover Girl.

He never really looked like making it big time until Bilko came along when he was in his mid-40s and almost overnight, it seemed, the balding, bespectacled Silvers became a star. The Phil Silvers show soon caught on, attracting millions of viewers and in its first year alone won five Emmys as well as many other awards.

Unlike many other television series, it has stood the test of time and is just as funny now as it was all those years ago.

It is in fact a timeless television classic.

Although much of the credit for the show's success must go to Silvers himself, the show's chief writer and producer Nat Hiken, who already had a big reputation in the business, was, according to Silvers - who was certainly not known for dishing out praise - "the presiding genius".

However, Hiken's total involvement and dedication to the series left him totally physically and mentally exhausted and he quit after two years and 71 episodes.

The remaining 72 episodes were completed by the rest of the writing team, but when the ratings began to slide and with Silvers himself becoming fatigued, owing to the show's gruelling routine, CBS cancelled the series in 1959.